THURSDAY, AUGUST 23:

BHS VB…New head coach Jodi Melius and the Brookings volleyball team open the season Friday night at Rapid City Stevens – then face the Central Cobblers Saturday.
   The Bobcat lineup will feature players who saw extensive court time last season – still, Melius says it’s a work in progress.  97633   :14   “picking things up”.
   Melius says the Bobcats have some size at the net – she says ball control is key.  97634   :22   “making great strides”.
   Melius wants the Bobcats to be aggressive putting the ball over the net.
   She says the ESD Conference features some solid teams.  97635   :33   “to their team”.
   Brookings faces Huron next week in the Bobcat conference opener.

MITCHELL VB…The Mitchell volleyball team opens the season Friday night and Saturday afternoon hosting Spearfish and Sturgis.  Although the Kernels lost some good hitters from last year the cupboard is not bare for the Kernels.  Head coach Deb Thill:  97621   :08   “in 22 years”.
   Mitchell will travel to Aberdeen on Tuesday for an early season test. Thill thinks that Aberdeen Central will be the favorite in the ESD Conference but don’t count out the Kernels.  97622   :14   “where we stand”.
   The opening weekend will be spent working on a few things:  97623   :12   “in the season”.
   Thill is in her 22nd year as the head coach of the Kernels.  

SCHMIDT-HURON FB…Huron visits Brookings Saturday night for the football season opener, and Bobcat Athletic Hall of Fame game.  Kickoff at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium is 7:00, with live coverage on Kcountry 102 at 6:30.
   Brookings head coach Lee Schmidt says his team will spend game week building up depth, and cleaning up some missed assignments.  97625   :21   “other guys did”.
   Schmidt says Huron returns a nice defensive team.  97626   :27   “than we are”.
   Brookings football coach Lee Schmidt.

HURON FB…The Huron Tiger football team is coming off a 3-and-6 season as they head to Brookings to open the season Saturday night.
   Head coach Mike Postma says there are holes to fill after graduating 23 seniors off last year's team.  97627   :26   “shoes to fill”.
   Postma's biggest concern is developing depth as the season wears on.  97628   :32   “what we have”.
   Postma says Brandon Valley is the hands down, pre-season favorite in the ESD, followed by Yankton – after that, there's a lot of parity.  97629   :15   “first game”.
   The three wins last year were the most by a Tiger team since 2002, and three of the six losses came by six points or less.

BISON POLL…Defending champion North Dakota State is atop the Football Championship Subdivision preseason coaches' poll.
   The Bison have 13 returning starters, led by All-America cornerback Marcus Williams, and quarterback Brock Jensen and running back Sam Ojuri on the offensive side of the ball.
   NDSU finished 14-1 last season and beat Sam Houston State in the national title game. The Bearkats are No. 2 in the preseason poll, followed by Georgia Southern, Montana State and Appalachian State.
   NDSU got 19 of the 26 first-place votes in the poll. Sam Houston state got six and Georgia Southern one. The rest of the Top 10 is Old Dominion, Northern Iowa, James Madison, Towson and Montana.

DSU FB CAPTAINS… The Dakota State University football team is proud to announce the team captains for the 2012 season. They are seniors Brandon Large, Eric Liles, John Niesen and Blake Schlagel.
   Large and Liles were the team captains in 2011.
   Dakota State kicks off their 2012 campaign at home Saturday afternoon, hosting Peru State. Kick-off is slated for 4 p.m. at Trojan Field.

THIESSE…South Dakota State has lost a second women’s basketball assistant coach.
    Emilee Thiesse, with six years of NCAA Division I coaching experience, has been named head coach at Minnesota State-Mankato.  She says it’s a program with a winning tradition.  97630   :22   “program moving forward”.
   Thiesse spent the last three seasons at South Dakota State where she served as recruiting coordinator and academic coordinator for the Jackrabbits. She feels good about the Mavericks’ returning talent.  97631   :25   “have coming back”.
   Thiesse says her SDSU experience will help shape her coaching style, and philosophy.  97632   :29   “the same page”.
   The daughter of former Spearfish and Madison High School basketball coach Tim Gusso, Thiesse’s sister, Amy Williams, is the women’s basketball coach at the University of South Dakota. Thiesse’s husband, Brandon, is a native of Fairmont, Minn.

FAISON CONTRACT…North Dakota athletics director Brian Faison has received a two-year contract extension. Faison, whose contract now runs to June 2017, has been at the post since 2008.
   In leading UND Athletics through the Division I transition, alumni and fan support have continued to grow. Last year's teams won two conference regular season championships, and four conference postseason tournaments championships.  Plus, UND's 377 student-athletes achieved a school-record 3.173 grade point average during the 2011-12 year.

BCC ACE…Cody BozIed of the Brookings Country Club had his first hole-in-one Wednesday at the Brookings Country Club. He used an 3-iron to ace the 212-yard, par 3, 13th hole. The shot was witnessed by Tim Burns, Steve Chappell and Steve Wilber.

MANKATO FB…The head football coach at Minnesota State, Mankato, was charged Wednesday with two counts related to child pornography after authorities said they found nude images of children on his cellphone.
   Todd Hoffner was charged with one count of using minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work, and one count of possessing child pornography. Both are felonies.
   Police began investigating last week after a university official went to them with three videos of children that were said to be on Hoffner's work-issued cellphone, according to the complaint filed in the case.  The complaint said the children are Hoffner's.
   Hoffner's attorney, Jim Fleming, said his client intends to fight the charges.

PETERSON…A change of plan for Minnesota Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson.
   Instead of action in pre-season games, Peterson will take part in a host of practice drills as he recovers from knee surgery.  97636   :14   “more comfortable”.
   So what will be his biggest challenge when he gets back into action?  97637   :13   “important thing”.
   Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson.

NCAA TENNIS…The NCAA will not use a new tiebreaker system in college tennis.
   On Wednesday, less than a week after tennis insiders balked at the proposal, the men's and women's Division I tennis committee rescinded the recommendation to add a third-set super tiebreaker in the final set of singles matches and a new doubles tiebreaker at 6-all. The super tiebreaker would have awarded the third set to the first player with 10 points.
   With the backing of the U.S. Tennis Association and Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the NCAA still recommends removing the warm-ups before singles and doubles matches, shortening the time limit between singles and doubles matches from 10 minutes to five and reducing the time of changeovers from 90 seconds to 60. A final vote is expected next month.

KIDS DRESS CODE… The Oklahoma City school district says it will review its dress code policy on college sports apparel after an elementary school student was told to turn his University of Michigan T-shirt inside out.
   Shannon Barton says the Wilson Elementary School principal asked her 5-year-old son, Cooper, to make the change last week and he changed behind a tree on the playground.
   Barton says Cooper was told he could only wear University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State University shirts. The dress code allows Oklahoma college apparel to be worn but bars other schools' clothing. The dress code was created in 2005 with the help of an anti-gang task force.
   District spokeswoman Tierney Tinnin says Superintendent Karl Springer thinks the policy might be outdated.

DSU TIX… Family season pass for all Dakota State University home athletic events is now on sale.
Family season pass for 2012-13 is $50 per family and valid for all regular-season home dates. All seats are general admission. The family season pass covers immediate family only.
   For more information or questions on family season pass, contact Tom Nielsen or Carla Sudenga at 605-256-5229.